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Man City predicted lineup vs Atletico Madrid

Manchester City face La Liga giants Atletico Madrid in their final pre-season friendly of an Asian tour on Sunday.

Pep Guardiola got a taste of Diego Simeone’s unique brand of bluntness long before the former midfielder became one of the modern game’s best managers. After attending one of Guardiola’s training sessions during his time at Barcelona, Simeone let the Catalan know what he thought about the team that would win two Champions League titles in three years.

“We talked and he says: ‘I don’t feel it, I don’t like it,'” Guardiola remembered. “That’s when I said: ‘Wow, this motherf***** will be good’.”

It proved to be a prescient prediction.

Here’s how Guardiola may line up as he goes toe-to-toe with Simeone once more.

Mateo Kovacic

Mateo Kovacic has been earning his first minutes for Manchester City this pre-season / Etsuo Hara/GettyImages

GK: Ederson – After David de Gea’s departure and Hugo Lloris’ decision to step away from Tottenham, Ederson is set to be the only goalkeeper in the division with more than 100 Premier League clean sheets next season.

RB: Kyle Walker – The rumour mill may be spinning into overdrive surrounding Walker’s future but Guardiola has repeatedly turned to the full-back this pre-season despite Bayern Munich’s not-so-subtle advances.

CB: John Stones – It’s hard to imagine given his strong end to the campaign, but Joao Cancelo had actually played more Premier League minutes for City than Stones by March last season – even though the Portugal full-back had signed for Bayern Munich in January.

CB: Ruben Dias – While celebrating City’s dramatic 2022 Premier League title, Dias’ father accidentally head-butted Noel Gallagher, giving the Oasis star two black eyes. No Britpop artists were hurt by Mr Dias during last season’s festivities.

LB: Manuel Akanji – If Guardiola was cautious enough to take Ake off within 30 minutes of City’s previous friendly against Bayern Munich, he may be tempted to rest the Dutchman from the start on Sunday.

CM: Rodri – No player made as many appearances across all competitions for City as the Champions League Player of the Season.

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CM: Mateo Kovacic – The one-time Real Madrid midfielder has an unbeaten record against his former city rivals Atletico, avoiding defeat in all five of his competitive encounters against Los Rojiblancos.

AM: Kevin De Bruyne – After limping off in the Champions League final with a snapped hamstring, De Bruyne has been cautiously building his fitness back up during pre-season. Guardiola confirmed that there were “no injuries” in the squad after the victory over Bayern, giving the Belgian licence to return this weekend.

RW: Bernardo Silva – Without the recently-departed Riyad Mahrez, Bernardo may be forced wide more often in the coming campaign – if the Portugal international stays at City himself, that is.

ST: Erling Haaland – The all-encompassing fame of Haaland is so widespread that the tourism director for the Swedish town of Halland complained: “The popularity of the football phenomenon is completely suffocating our online presence.”

LW: Jack Grealish – This match may be bracketed as a ‘friendly’ but Grealish could be forgiven for approaching the contest with a little hostility. When the sides last met in April 2022, Grealish was invariably involved in the myriad of scuffles that plagued the Champions League quarter-final.

LISTEN NOW TO 90MIN’S TALKING TRANSFERS PODCAST

On this week’s edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Toby Cudworth is joined by Graeme Bailey to discuss the next steps in Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane hunt, Brighton rejecting another Chelsea bid for Moises Caicedo, who has had the most impressive transfer window so far & more!

If you can’t see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!



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